mciSendString - Play Sound from ARRAY not PATH ?

Hello,

I've been looking around and can't find a simple answer.

is it possible to play a sound from an array buffer through mciSendString?

I don't want to point to a path on the HD?

And I also don't want to use use the sndPlaySound API. I know I can do it there.

50+ views and no one knows the answer :eek:

Haven't thought about this for over a decade, so don't have a definitive answer for you. There are issues with some of the sound APIs and playing from memory & I don't recall if mciSendString has that limitation or not. Here's another thread that may answer your question or get you on a better path to a solution

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...-And-MID-Files!!

Went through the thread and it mostly focuses on the sndPlaySound API to play a file from a resource, which is not quite what I want
But I also found that the mciSendString can play from a resource file too, but still haven't found a way to play from an Array/Memory.

I mainly need mciSendString to be able to play/handle wav files with loop points so that you can set it to play from startpos / end pos, rather than the whole audio.
Perhaps any other APIs can achieve this?

To play from an array you need to load the wave file from HD into an array

I don't know if this is loaded into an array or not but once you load it you can play it many times by referring to it's alias name meaning you can load more than one wave file and give each one a different alias

Code:

---

Private Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "mciSendStringA" _
 (ByVal lpstrCommand As String, ByVal lpstrReturnString As String, ByVal uReturnLength As _
 Integer, ByVal hwndCallback As Integer) As Integer

Dim myFile(0 To 10) As String

Private Sub Form_Load()
 myFile(0) = Chr(34) & App.Path & "\your_wave_file.wav" & Chr(34)
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_Click() 'Play
 Call mciSendString("open " & myFile(0) & " type waveaudio alias Alias1", 0&, 0, 0)

 mciSendString "play Alias1", 0&, 0, 0
End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click() 'Pause
 mciSendString "pause Alias1", vbNullString, 0, 0
End Sub

Private Sub Command3_Click() 'Resume
 mciSendString "resume Alias1", vbNullString, 0, 0
End Sub

Private Sub Command4_Click() 'Stop
 mciSendString "stop Alias1", vbNullString, 0, 0
End Sub

Private Sub Command5_Click() 'Close
 mciSendString "close Alias1", vbNullString, 0, 0
End Sub

---

I think if you want total control over the wave files like you suggested above you will probably need to use the waveIn/waveOut APIs

Hi I found this code in my archives from the good ol days. I hope it helps as it does generate a note in memory. I haven't figured out yet how to use a loop to paly multi notes but maybe you can come up with something.
Option Explicit
'Name length Constant
Const MAXPNAMELEN = 32
Dim hMidi As Long ' Holds Midi Port Handle to reference aspecific opened port

'Midi Note format
Const KeyOn = &H90 'Simulates Key Press
Const KeyOff = &H80 'Simulates Key Release

Private Type MidiMsg
status As Byte 'Key On or Off
Note As Byte 'Note - 60 is middle C each increment is a half step
Volume As Byte 'Simulates how hard key was struck 0 - 127
Data3 As Byte 'Not used in this example
End Type

'Holds in formation about device (Port)
Private Type MIDIOUTCAPS
wMid As Integer
wPid As Integer
vDriverVersion As Long
szPname As String * MAXPNAMELEN
wTechnology As Integer
wVoices As Integer
wNotes As Integer
wChannelMask As Integer
dwSupport As Long
End Type

'Callback routed to form - not used but necessary
Private Const CALLBACK_WINDOW = &H10000
Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
'Send note to Midi Device (Port)
Private Declare Function midiOutShortMsg Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal hMidiOut As Long, ByVal dwMsg As Long) As Long
'Close Port
Private Declare Function midiOutClose Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal hMidiOut As Long) As Long
'Open a specific Midi Port
Private Declare Function midiOutOpen Lib "winmm.dll" (lphMidiOut As Long, ByVal uDeviceID As Long, ByVal dwCallback As Long, ByVal dwInstance As Long, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long
'Get how Many Ports are available
Private Declare Function midiOutGetNumDevs Lib "winmm" () As Integer
'Get info from specific port
Private Declare Function midiOutGetDevCaps Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "midiOutGetDevCapsA" (ByVal uDeviceID As Long, lpCaps As MIDIOUTCAPS, ByVal uSize As Long) As Long
'Used to convert Note Message to an unsigned Long Integer for API compatibility
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (pDst As Any, pSrc As Any, ByVal ByteLen As Long)

Private Sub Combo1_Click()
'Close any open ports
midiOutClose hMidi
'Open Port indicated in Combo Box
midiOutOpen hMidi, Combo1.ListIndex, Me.hWnd, 0, CALLBACK_WINDOW
End Sub
Private Sub Command1_MouseDown(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
Dim msg As MidiMsg, ml As Long
'set up note info
msg.status = KeyOn
msg.Volume = 64
msg.Data3 = 0

'choose note accroding to key pressed
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 60, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4 'copy to unsigned long integer
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml 'send note

'send next note
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71, 72, 74)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml

'send third note in triad
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 67, 69, 71, 72, 74, 76, 77)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml

End Sub

Private Sub Command1_MouseUp(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
Dim msg As MidiMsg, ml As Long

'if Right mouse button pressed, sustain note
If Button = 2 Then Exit Sub
'set up note off
msg.status = KeyOff
msg.Volume = 64
msg.Data3 = 0

'shut off first note
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 60, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml

'shut off next note
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71, 72, 74)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml

'shut off last note in triad
msg.Note = Choose(Index + 1, 67, 69, 71, 72, 74, 76, 77)
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml

End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim i As Long, caps As MIDIOUTCAPS
Show
Me.ScaleMode = vbPixels
Me.Caption = "Diatonic Chords,Mouse Button: Left-Staccato, Right-Legato"
Combo1.Left = 0
Combo1.Top = 0

'Get number of devices and load names into combo box
For i = 0 To midiOutGetNumDevs() - 1
midiOutGetDevCaps i, caps, Len(caps)
Combo1.AddItem caps.szPname, i
Next
Combo1.ListIndex = 0

For i = 0 To 6

Command1(0).Width = Me.ScaleWidth / 7
If i > 0 Then Load Command1(i)
With Command1(i)
.Left = Me.ScaleWidth / 7 * i
.Visible = True
.Top = Me.ScaleHeight / 2 - .Height / 2
.Caption = Choose(i + 1, "C", "Dm", "Em", "F", "G", "Am", "B")
End With
Next
PlayNote 60
End
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
'Close Port
midiOutClose hMidi
End Sub



Public Sub Play(Pitch As Integer)
msg.status = KeyOn
msg.Volume = 127
msg.Data3 = 0
msg.Note = Pitch
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml
End Sub
Public Sub StopPlay()
msg.status = KeyOff
msg.Data3 = 0
msg.Note = 0
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml
End Sub

Sub PlayNote(Freq As Double)
Dim msg As MidiMsg, ml As Long
msg.status = &H90
msg.Note = Freq
msg.Volume = 120
msg.Data3 = 0
CopyMemory ml, msg, 4
midiOutShortMsg hMidi, ml
End Sub